A thief stole a French bulldog puppy from a pet shop at Aurora’s Fox Valley Mall Wednesday afternoon, outrunning three shop employees and a customer who tried to chase him down, the store manager said.
Furry Babies Pet Store Manager Cristal Ornelas said she was walking back from a jewelry store when she saw a man running out of the pet store, closely followed by a female sales associate.
“Someone took Frenchie,” the sales associate yelled.
Ornelas ran after the man with the dog, along with another sales associate.
“Four of us total ran after him,” Ornelas said, including a customer from the pet store. “We went through the mall parking lot. He had like a getaway car ready to go.
“He was fast, and I’m a runner,” Ornelas said. “He bolted.”
A sales associate told Ornelas the man had been in the store for about three minutes, and apparently waited until she was cleaning another dog’s crib to make his move.
Aurora police said they’re investigating the theft of the puppy, valued at $6,000, which occurred about 1:40 p.m. Wednesday at the mall pet store.
Police described the thief as a white or Hispanic man in his late teens to early 20s, 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 11 inches tall, between 145 and 160 pounds, and with a thin moustache. He was wearing tan pants, a black jacket and a tan baseball cap, police and Ornelas said.
Police said during his getaway, the man ran through an adjacent department store, where he exited the mall, ran across the parking lot, crossed New York Street and then went to a restaurant parking lot, where he got in a silver SUV with temporary plates and 22-inch chrome wheel rims that then drove off, police said.
Video provided by Ornelas shows the thief apparently dropping something in a department store aisle, picking it up, and continuing to run away through racks of clothing, the puppy in his left hand.
In a photo police shared on Facebook, the puppy is wearing a red-and-white spotted bow tie. Ornelas said he was not wearing the bow tie or any type of collar when he was taken.
The 11-week-old pup didn’t have a name yet, but shop employees called him “Frenchie.” He was in a crib with a cocker spaniel and yorkie mix, Ornelas said.
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An employee’s daughter who has a French bulldog from the same breeder was in town from New Jersey and was planning to take “Frenchie” home with her, Ornelas said.
“It’s extremely heartbreaking,” Ornelas said. “My concern is how he’ll be treated …. it obviously scares me.”
Ornelas just wants to get the puppy back safely, no questions asked, she said.
“He’s such a sweet guy,” Ornelas said. “He has bright green eyes. He was just our little butterball.”